Friday, July 31, 2015

Friends are an important part of our lives. I’m sure we all
look forward to long conversations with our close friends. We confide in them
and cry over their shoulders. They are the reason we smile even in the midst
of trouble. Our friends understand us better than anyone else.

The same rule applies when we write our stories. Our main
characters too need a clutch of friends. Here is my take on few types of
friends we can give our protagonists:

1. The Sacrificing Martyr – who will
sacrifice his or her comfort to help the protagonist. Just like Hermione
and Ron who almost always put Harry’s interest before their own. This was
visible especially in the last book when they left the comforts of
Hogwarts to be with Harry.

2. The Fair Weather Friends – who will
desert the ship when troubled times loom large. The support of this kind of
friends is only for the good times. These friends are selfish.

3. The Voice of Caution – a lot like
Hermione in the Potter Series. This type of friend also doubles as a guardian
and conscience rolled into one, giving warning about the repercussions of
certain actions the protagonist undertakes. This type of friend can put up a
fight if they feel that the protagonist is acting foolish or taking unnecessary
risks.

4. The Idiot – who provides the lighter
moments and is the butt of all the jokes like Neville Longbottom and Luna
Lovegood in the Potter series. These friends are harmless and can rise to the
occasion if the need arises.

5. The Turn Coat – who doesn’t think
twice before betraying the protagonist when it suits them to serve other
interests that clash with the protagonist’s.

6. The Fool Hardy One – this type
of friend leads the protagonist into all kinds of trouble.

7.The Wise Ones – who have the answer to
most puzzles bugging the protagonist. These friends can be a great source
of help to the protagonist.

8. The Dependable Ones – these friends
can and will almost always help the protagonist and will stick with
him or her through troubled times, through thick and thin. Hermione comes
to mind when I think of this kind of a friend.

9. The Jealous Friend – this kind of
friend is fiercely competitive and sees the protagonist more as a rival than a
friend. These friends are extremely prone to jealousy and may even harm in a fit
of jealousy.

10. The Silent One – who seldom
offers an opinion, but can be extremely loyal and protective of the MC.

11. The Defender – who gets into all kind
of trouble trying to protect the hero/heroine. This type of friend picks up
fights on behalf of the MC.

12. The Lackeys – who hang around the MC as it’s prestigious to be
seen in their company. They are like leeches, they can never be depended upon
for help.

What kind of friend/s have you given your protagonist?
Did you ponder over the type of friend you wanted to give the Main
Character, or did it just happen as a part of the story? Do you take time to
create the perfect friend for your hero/heroine? Please share. We all can learn
lots from your process.

Friday, July 24, 2015

I have always been fond of reading books. As a
child, in my holidays, I would sit up till late in the night reading my Nancy
Drews, Hardy Boys and Enid Blytons. This habit accompanied me in my adult life.

However busy I am, you will always find me with a book: at the airport, in the
hospital, in the doctor’s clinic, at railway stations and everywhere else.

I just cannot believe it when people tell me that
they don’t read. Infact, I am shocked when I hear this statement.

This week I was super busy to come up with a post. So,
I thought I will take a shortcut and share my reading list with you. Books I
have read this month and books I will be reading in the next few days.

7 Enders Game by Orson Scott Card (have heard a lot
about it, eager to read it, bought it from Blossoms: Bangalore’s biggest book
shop. If you are ever in Bangalore and you love books, you must visit this
place.)

8 5 to 1 by
Holly Bodger (won it on Literary Rambles, eager to read it.)

Friday, July 17, 2015

Today, I have an interview with Author Elizabeth
Varadan. Elizabeth has written a Middle Grade mystery ‘Imogene and the Case of the Missing
Pearls.’ After I had read and reviewed Elizabeth’s previous book ‘The Fourth
Wish’ I had become a huge fan of her writing. Her latest book didn’t
disappoint.

Q. Tell us something about
yourself?

A. I’ve loved to read
and write from an early age, but I only had time to write full time once I took
early retirement from teaching. All through college and teaching, I scribbled
mainly short stories for adults. But after teaching eight-to-twelve-year-olds
for several years, that age range seemed imbedded in my mind, and I started
writing middle grade fiction.

Q. What was the inspiration behind
Imogene and the case of the Missing Pearls?

A. I’ve loved mysteries since I was a kid. When
I was ten (and an avid Nancy Drew fan) I had a favorite fantasy of being a
detective named Imogene and even started a detective club with friends. So,
when I decided to write this story, the sleuth was ten, and named Imogene. I
wanted Sherlock to be in the story, so it had to happen in Victorian London.
And because Victorian girls couldn’t go
out on their own, the mystery had to happen at home. Thus, her mother’s pearls
were stolen, but by whom?

Q. What made you incorporate
Sherlock Holmes into the story?

A. I discovered the original Sherlock Holmes
stories in my twenties. I’ve always liked fiction set in England, especially
during the Victorian Era. After I went through all of Doyle’s stories and
novels, I started finding books starring Sherlock Holmes, but written by other
authors as if the author were an editor publishing a new work by Doyle. (I have
since learned that these are “pastiches”.) After my brother and his wife took
me to the Sherlock Holmes Museum in London, I began to think, “Hmmm, maybe I’d like to write a story about Sherlock
Holmes.”

Q. How did you go about doing
research for this book?

A. It helps that I love
research. I started out googling historical sites on the Internet, and then
started writing agencies on an “as needed” basis. By the time I was well into
it, I was writing letters to museum departments, shipping companies, railroad
companies (for timetables in a certain year, and that sort of thing). I read
more fiction and nonfiction set in the Victorian era to get a feel for the
language, as well as the logistics and place names of the day, and then I
looked at their bibliographies to get more sources. I have quite a library of
my own, now, for future books, and a nice network of consultants, I’m happy to
say.

Q. Are you a plotter or a
panster?

A. Panster. I usually
start out with a character that grabs me, and a problem, and I work from there.
Sometimes I do have an end in mind, but that usually changes once the story is
underway. About halfway through, I start “mini-plotting”, figuring out what
needs to happen for something else to happen. But I have never successfully
started with a plot in advance. I did plot two books once, and they are still in
my filing cabinet, unwritten, because the thrill was gone. A finished plot left
me feeling the book was finished. Irrational, I know, but that seems to be the
way my psyche works.

Q. Any chance of turning this
into a series?

A. Yes, I do have rough
sketches for two sequels. (Rough sketches are as “plotty” as I get.)

Q. Any tips for writing a
mystery?

A. Be flexible, and
don’t get too attached to your original plan. The person you thought “dunnit”
might not be the culprit after all. It also pays to read mysteries that grab
you, because that’s the best way to learn what works. I do have several books
on writing mysteries that I have found helpful, but one thing I notice is that
they don’t all have the same approach, which is strangely encouraging.

Q. What are you writing now?

A. I’m in the rewrite
of a “cozy” mystery for adults. And, as I said, I have sketches for two more Imogene books. I also have a historical
YA involving a ghost that I’ve been working on for about ten years. Some books
are like that. Between other books, I pick it up and work on it some more. It’s
coming along, although I hope it doesn’t take another ten years.

Bio:

Elizabeth
Varadan is a former elementary school teacher. She taught most elementary
grades, but her favorites were the middle grades, and she now writes middle
grade fiction. She and her husband live in Midtown Sacramento, California, a
beautiful tree-lined neighborhood with bookshops and art stores nearby. Her
children’s fiction and poetry have appeared in Ladybug, Friends, and Skipping Stones Magazine. Her adult
flash fiction has appeared in several online and print magazines, and her
poetry has been anthologized in Vine
Leaves Journal and The Stray Branch.

Friday, July 10, 2015

We writers would be lost without our muses
(Inspiration). We put up with all their tantrums, their erratic behaviour of
dropping in at the most inopportune times, their mood swings and sometimes their flirty behaviour. All for the sake of getting our stories written.

Just imagine if one day our muses would go away on a
long holiday, without a warning. I am sure that would be a nightmare situation
for all of us.

I thought I would do a fun post today. I have no
idea why, but I have always considered my muse to be a guy. I have given my
muse a name, an image and a personality. Today, I will introduce you all to me
muse. If my muse were to emerge from the depths of my imagination, he would
look like the accompanying picture and embrace all these qualities.

Meet my muse (he is completely a figment of my over
active imagination)

Name:
Siddharth (Ever since I came to know that Lord Buddha’s name was
Siddharth, I fell in love with this name)

Height : 6 feet tall (it would make my muse close to
my dad’s height)

Colour : Fair

Hair : Black.

Body Type : Athletic with a six pack abs.

Profession : I am undecided about this aspect, but I
would definitely prefer it if he does something Intellectual (Intelligent guys
appeal to me ;) )

Nature : Calm, Supportive and Generous.

Hobbies : Reading, Plays a musical instrument and
loves sports (not just watching it on T.V but actually getting all sweaty).

Hope you all enjoyed meeting my muse. Now be good
and introduce me to all your muses. Go wild, Go Crazy. Remember to give your
muses a name and a body type and hobbies etc.

Picture Courtesy – As I could not find a suitable
picture to go with my imagination, I have taken Bollywood Hearththrob Hrithik
Roshan’s picture from one of the online sites, as he came closest to matching
my imagination.

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

It’s time for the seventh IWSG of the year. The year sure has picked up
speed and is flying past swiftly. IWSG (Insecure Writers Support Group) is an
online group of writers that posts on the first Wednesday of every month. This amazing
and awesome group was started by the adorable Alex Cavanaugh – Author of Amazon
bestsellers: CassaStar, CassaStorm, CassaFire and Dragon of the Stars. In
blogoland Alex is known as Ninja Captain. I have decided to give Alex another
name- Super A (as it’s my birthday month, I know he will forgive me).

IWSG is a cool place to hangout online for writers. We can talk of our
writing worries, fears, doubts, insecurities and anxieties and help, support,
advice and encourage each other. Check the IWSG website for awesome writing
tips.

For this month’s IWSG (Insecure Writers Support Group) post I was unable
to choose my Insecurity because currently there are two insecurities fighting
with each other to occupy my mind space. Yes, my insecurities not just trouble
me, they even trouble each other.

My first insecurity is lack of time for the first 10 days of this month.
I have family obligations to fulfil, so I know that my writing will definitely
take a backseat during these ten days.

But, the main insecurity this
month is that I am unable to say goodbye to an old manuscript. This particular
story was very close to my heart. I made the mistake of querying too fast for
it. Many of the agents I queried for this manuscript asked me to send another
MS and a few asked me to keep them in mind when I queried another book. Though
I have gone on to write a few more books after that particular MS, I often
revert to it and try to make it better in whichever way I can.

I know that as a writer I shouldn’t linger on any one particular book
and should write as many as I can. But, I just am not able to say goodbye to
that particular story. I tweaked it last week for the hundredth time.
Sometimes, I feel I am wasting my time polishing a story that has no takers.
But, honestly I am helpless. There is a strange attraction to it.

I would love to know if this has happened to you all. Has a particular
manuscript refused to let go of you? Have you clung on to a particular story
inspite of having moved on to other stories? Deep down do you harbour a wee bit
of hope that the particular manuscript will finally get published?

About Me

Welcome to my Scriptorium, my online Writing Room. I love to connect with other writers, so grab a chair, a cup of coffee, a bar of chocolate and we will discuss stories, books, writing, works in progress, characters, plots, marketing, titles and many other things related to writing and publishing.